


Library of Love

by sladeninstitute



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 16:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1234078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sladeninstitute/pseuds/sladeninstitute
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard's a grumpy librarian at the Riverside Library and Jim's a patron looking for books on astrophysics. The two meet and may or may not fall for each other at first sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Library of Love

“Uh, 'scuse me.”

The brown haired man looked up from his computer terminal and adjusted his glasses.

“Yeah, how can I help you?” It was gruff, not exactly pleasant like a librarian is expected to be. In fact, the blonde man postulated, the brown haired man looked too young to be a librarian anyway. Weren't all librarians supposed to be old and grey and bitter? This guy was....hot, to say the least.

“You gonna tell me what you need or are ya just gonna stand there and look all vacant-like?” The man's voice cut through Jim's thoughts instantly. He scrambled to find the list of books that he had in his pocket. He found it and smoothed it out, sliding it across the circulation desk.

“I'm looking for these books. I need them for a paper I'm doing.”

“That so?” The brown headed man didn't look at all interested, but he took the list and glanced over it. “Don't think we got all of these.” He turned his attention to the computer terminal and typed in the first book on the list. It came up seconds later, call number and all. He wrote down the string of numbers beside the title on the page.

Moving onto the next book, the librarian looked up from his terminal.

“Just what in the hell're you studyin', kid? Astro-babble?”

“Astrophysics,” Jim said with some ire. He didn't like when people wrote off astrophysics as something unimportant.

“Alright, alright. Don't get all up in a tizzy about it. Just askin'.” He looked back at the screen and noted that nothing had come up in his search. He put a little “x” beside the title and made a note to explain that to the patron as soon as he looked up the rest of them. “You got a name, kid?” He spoke out of the side of his mouth, not looking at the patron in question.

“Jim. Jim Kirk. You?”

“McCoy. Leonard McCoy.”

Jim hummed in acknowledgment, trying to get a glimpse at the computer screen.

“How's it going? Are you finding them all? What's that “x” on the paper for?”

“I'll tell you in a minute, kid. And stop askin' questions. You're distractin' me.” Jim stopped leaning over the desk, straightening up at the gruffness of Leonard's tone.

“Sorry.”

Leonard didn't say a word.

–

By the time he'd searched for all the books, he came up with four hits and three misses. He slid the paper back across the desk and gave Jim surprisingly sympathetic look.

“We ain't got all of these, unfortunately. I can get 'em for you through interlibrary loan, but it'll take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. You in a hurry to get 'em?”

Jim sighed, close to putting his head in his hands.

“Yeah, yeah. I am. This paper's due next week. I don't have time to wait for an interlibrary loan to come through.”

“How badly do ya need 'em? Can't you do this paper without 'em?”

“No, I can't. I chose a very specific topic and these books are the only ones that even deal with it.”

The gears in Leonard's head started turning, and he took the list back from Jim. He took a blank piece of computer paper and copied down the list in his own, illegible scrawl.

“You come back here tomorrow around noon, okay? I'm not makin' any promises, but be here.” Leonard smiled, the first non-gruff emotional response he'd shown since Jim had arrived at the desk. “You need me to help you find the other books out in the stacks?” He was holding the list out for Jim to take back. Once it was in his hands, Jim glanced at the call numbers.

“Uh, yeah. Please. It's a big library and you probably know it better than I do.”

Leonard pushed his chair back and stood up, taking his own copy of the list from the desk and heading out.

“C'mon.”

–

Within fifteen minutes, Leonard had successfully located all four of the books that the system had. They were stacked up in Jim's arms, and the young man was postitively wobbling under the weight of the massive tomes. Thinking that the patron was about to collapse, Leonard quickly guided him over to a nearby table and got him to set the books down on the tabletop.

“You gonna be able to carry all those home?” Leonard asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He couldn't explain it, but he was drawn to this astrophysics major. He was interesting, to say the least.

“Yeah, I've got a rucksack for a reason.” was Jim's reply, as he too sat down.

“Mm.”

“So how'd you become a librarian? You don't seem like the type. You're too gruff.” The words tumbled out of Jim's mouth before he could stop them, and he looked like he'd made a mistake. “M'sorry! I wasn't trying to offend you. Really wasn't!”

“You ain't offended me. It takes a lot more than the word gruff to get me all worked up.”

Jim let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. “It's a long story, you sure you wanna hear it?”

“Yeah, I'm interested.”  _In you_ , Jim thought.

“Well, I used to be a student here. I was in trainin' to become a doctor. I took shifts in here as a volunteer between some of my classes so I wouldn't have to wait around and do nothin' with my time. Turned out, I liked this place. I changed my major so that I was doin' both library sciences and medical courses at the same time. I wanted to learn everything I could about how this place worked. And I did. Loved it, too. When I graduated, I decided to stick around here. I've got all my life to be a doctor.” Leonard shrugged, then pointed a finger at Jim. “What about you? What's got you all into astrophysics?”

“Dad was an astronaut, mom was astronomer. My life's revolved around space for as long as I can remember. I love it, love the vastness of it, the way that it never ends. I love the stars, the planets, everything. Astrophysics is my way of getting involved with space.” Jim had spoken with such conviction and excitement that it made Leonard fall for the kid just a little bit more.

“Well, I apologize for tryna write it off as astro-babble earlier.” The apology was sincere, and it touched Jim.

“Thanks. I'm sorry for getting defensive. I'm just not cool with people badmouthing space or astro-anything, even in the slightest ways.”

“Understandable. I guess I'm the same way when it comes to people badmouthin' books or bones.”

“Bones. That's what I'm gonna call you.”

“Bones?” Leonard raised his eyebrow in a show of skepticality.

“Yeah, Bones. It fits you.”  
“Alright, kid.”

“You gonna call me kid?”

“Sure am.”

Leonard stood up from his chair and pushed it back into the desk.

“I hate to drop out of our conversation so soon, but I really need to get back to the desk. Can't leave it unmanned for too long or the whole place goes into chaos.” He grinned. “You come and see me when you're ready to check those out, alright?”

“Will do, Bones.”

Leonard rolled his eyes and started the trek back to the main desk, two floors down and at least five minutes away by foot.

–

“I'm ready to check out.” Jim plopped the stack of books down on the desk, looking slightly breathless. The library was closing in fifteen minutes, and Jim had been there since the early hours of that morning.

“Alright, you got your library card on you?” Leonard gave Jim a smile, putting away the magazine that he'd been flipping through.

“Sure do.” Jim fished around his pockets for the wallet he kept attached to a chain and pulled it out. It was only after he opened it and reached for his library card did he realize that somethin' was wrong.

“I uh, I don't, it's not here. It should be right here!” He turned his wallet around and showed Bones the empty slot where there should've been a green and grey library card.

“You know I can't check books out for you unless you've got a card, right? It's library policy.” The look on his face was apologetic once again.

“I have a card, it's just not here! I must've left it at home on the dresser or something. Isn't there anything you can do?”

Bones sighed, racking his brain for a solution.

“You know your library card number by heart?”

“No way, Bones! That's like fifteen numbers.”

“Well that rules out me lookin' you up in the system.”

“What, you can't look me up by name? James Tiberius Kirk.”

“Sorry. System only allows lookup by way of library card number or the scanning of a card outright.”

“So there's nothing you can do?”

Bones started to say no, but stopped himself.

“There's one thing I can do, and you better appreciate it because I sure as hell don't do this for just anyone.”

“I'll appreciate anything you do, but I need to get these books home!”

Bones reached for his own wallet and pulled out his own library card, running it over the scanner. He pulled the books down from the counter and ran them under the scanner as well, marking them all as “checked out.” When he'd finished that simple task, he printed out a receipt and slid it into one of the books.

“There you go. They're checked out on my card, so you better return them as soon as you're done with 'em. A librarian can't go racking up overdue fees, you hear?”

Jim could've leaned over the desk and kissed his cute library god.

“I hear you, I hear you, thank you so much!”

Bones rolled his eyes and flipped the light at his desk off.

“Now go on, get outta here. We're closed for the day. But be sure to come back and see me tomorrow, you hear?”

“Will do. I promise.”

–

“You wanted me to come back today.” Jim stood at the circulation desk and gave Leonard a look, wondering what his cute library god had in store for him.

“I got somethin' for you.” Leonard leaned down and picked up a stack of books from one of the cubby holes on the desk, putting them on the counter. Jim raised an eyebrow inquisitively and turned them so he could see the spines.

“These are....” Jim trailed off, practically exuberant.

“Yep. All three books that you were lookin' for yesterday.” Unless Jim was mistaken, there was a slight reddish tinge to Leonard's cheeks.

“How'd you get these?! I thought you said that they weren't in the system. It was supposed to take weeks!”

“Well, librarians have a budget to buy new books, you know. I might've used some of that money at Barnes & Noble last night.”

“You went out and bought these for me?” Jim looked touched. Nobody'd ever bought books for him.

“Well, yes and no. They're for you, but they're not  _for_  you. They're technically Riverside Library property. I haven't put barcodes on them or checked them into the system yet though, so you've got 'em for as long as you need them.”

“You're my saviour, do you know that?”

“I figured you might say somethin' along those lines, yeah.” Bones was grinning, a brilliant grin that had Jim practically melting. “Now go on, go finish that paper and give 'em hell. Alright?”

“Alright.”

Jim turned to leave, before he stopped himself. He had to ask Bones a very important question, one that he had been wanting to ask since yesterday. He turned back around on the spot and shot Bones his patented “get the hot guy into bed” grin.

“What time's your shift end, Bones?”

“Same time it ends every night. 18:30. Why?”

“Well, Starbucks doesn't close until 23:00 and I was thinking that I should take you out for coffee as thanks. And maybe...” he paused, steeling himself up for the next words, “and maybe it could be a date? You know? Two consenting adults, on a date? For coffee? That would maybe lead to more dates?”

There was silence in the library as Bones turned Jim's proposition over in his head. Finally, he pulled a wide smile out of his ass and nodded.

“A date. See you here at closing?”

“See you at closing, Bones.”

Jim practically skipped out of the library, the promise of a date on his mind. He'd never get that damn paper done.


End file.
